I had one encounter with a Borgward Isabella. Anne & I cycled to Germany in 1957. Shortly after crossing the border from The Netherlands, we were forced to the side of the road by a local bus. I misjudged the surface and steered into 3" of loose gravel. We came off and the front wheel of our tandem was bent into an 'L'. After a while, an Isabella stopped and the British couple (from the UK base at Munchen-Gladbach) transported us to their house, cleaned us up, fed us and found a repairer for the tandem.

The 'transported' was the interesting bit. The tandem, complete with ex-army canvas panniers, was lifted rear-first into the boot of the Isabella and sat there quite comfortably. The Isabella was described as a medium family car, but I can't think of any British car of the period with a boot that could have done that.

Phil